Wellington Place Development

[Stig282]

Almost all do.

[Leedsfella]

Yes but most are very expensive

[Stig282]

indeed, prices for new Green bank: all starting prices; studio-£105k; 1bed-£146k; 2bed-£196k; 3bed-? parking available for all 1,2,3 bed apartments@£20k

Saw the model recently - looks awesome.
Am informed Marketing suite to be started soon. (site on left of Globe road that has just recently been cleared and levelled)

[Leeds No.1]

Doesn't sound too bad pricing compared to other expensive developments, further into the city centre, even though it is still quite expensive.

[Skopie]

Not too bad? Sounds very exspensive to me. Considering you can pick up studios for 80k, 1 beds for 120k and 2 beds for 150k.

[Leeds No.1]

where? It would be interesting to know..

[Skopie]

1 bed (although a tiny one), 99,500

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetai...a_n=5&tr_t=buy

1 bed 120,000

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetai..._n=10&tr_t=buy

2 bed 138, 950

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetai..._n=15&tr_t=buy

They are quite pricey compared to the second hand market. There will be the green space outsides, but unless these apartments are signifficantly bigger than the average apartment, I can't see much justifacation for the price. Of course a 2 bed on floor 30 will carry a premium, but they are going to have to make there apartments under floor 15 quite special to achieve that price.

K2 had similar prices though, and their apartments sold very swift, but K2 was in a much better location.

[aviator]

More from the latest Estates Gazette. The recently completed 2 Wellington Place has its first tenants.



Bentley Jennison, an accounting firm, is to take 25,000 sq ft in the 120,000 sq ft building at £22 per sq ft. Let's hope this gives Hermes and St James Securities the fillip they need to start the next phase of the development.

[Talisker]

Is anything going to happen to that bridge that crosses the canal and then just appruptly ends? It's quite a fine old structure and could easily be incorporated by providing steps to get onto it.

[Stig282]

It has been mentioned that this might incorporate part of the connection between Wellington Place and City Island.
Work will only begin once Wellington Place is finished as currently is only a building site on North side of the river.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by aviator

More from the latest Estates Gazette. The recently completed 2 Wellington Place has its first tenants.



Bentley Jennison, an accounting firm, is to take 25,000 sq ft in the 120,000 sq ft building at £22 per sq ft. Let's hope this gives Hermes and St James Securities the fillip they need to start the next phase of the development.

bit of a snippet from Property Week which I can't access, but tantalising regarding the new joint venture partners for Wellington Place:

MEPC steps into Arlington's shoes with Hermes in LeedsProperty Week | 17.03.2006

New chief Rick de Blaby scores first big venture: the 22 acre mixed-use Wellington Place

This link from the Hermes website now confirms MEPC's participation

Hermes

'We recognise the changing business environment where our customers require flexibility in modern, well-specified accommodation. We therefore seek to invest in offices, business parks and industrial estates that meet these requirements. As part of our asset improvement process, we also develop suitable opportunities such as Wellington Place, Leeds where we are currently seeking planning consent for 2.4m sq ft of mixed-use development.

Hermes' clients also invest in indirect property opportunities. These are primarily UK Limited Partnerships, joint ventures and corporate entities. Included in this is our investment in MEPC which has now evolved to being one of the leading business space providers in the UK.

Still doesn't say when the next phase of construction will start. Also, I though it had planning permission granted already. Good lord, keep up Jimbo!

[Even Flow]

Full story.http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/159303.html


MEPCS NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE, RICK de Blaby, this week secured a 1bn [pounds sterling] joint venture development in Leeds with Hermes.

MEPC has been selected as Hermes' partner at the Wellington Place mixed-use scheme, southwest of Leeds' core office area, after an agreement with original partner Arlington Securities fell through.



Hermes and MEPC are committed to a 10-year programme that will create more than 2.7m sq ft (250,835 sq m) of office-led development that will also include 500 homes and 107,640 sq ft (10,000 sq m) of retail at one of Leeds' prime city centre sites.

The 22 acre (9 ha) site has outline planning consent for 14 plots that will be developed speculatively and as prelets.

Arlington was the frontrunner to be Hermes' partner last summer, Property Week reported in July (news 01.07.05), but the partnership never came to fruition.

Keith Bugden, development director at Hermes, said: 'We were in advance discussions with Arlington but didn't manage to reach a financial agreement with them.

'In the meantime MEPC strengthened as an organisation. It became apparent that they had become a very strong candidate.'

MEPC, like Hermes, is owned by the BT Pension Scheme, but MEPC's appointment as partner was by no means a foregone conclusion.

'To use [de Blaby's] words, when do you ever get the opportunity to regenerate 22 acres in one holding?' said Bugden. 'So he pulled outall the stops to convince us he was the ideal candidate to work withus.

'MEPC has a very strong management structure, enhanced by the recent appointments of Peter Freeman and Alan Chert/ as non-executive directors.'

Freeman was the co-founder of Argent, also owned by the BT PensionScheme, while Cherry is the chairman of Countryside Properties, where de Blaby worked until 2003.

'The team at MEPC has enormous experience in mixed-use urban regeneration projects and we have every intention of delivering a world-class showpiece for the city of Leeds,' de Blaby said.

Part of Wellington Place has already been built: Benson House, No 1 Wellington Place, and the 119,000 sq ft (11,055 sq m) 2 Wellington House, which was completed last week.

Bugden confirmed advanced negotiations with occupiers were taking place for the speculative office building.

Phase two of the scheme is undergoing design consultations, which concentrate on street and public space improvements.

[Stig282]

Originally Posted by jimbo

I thought I'd dig a couple more Wellington Place images out of the website to rebuild the thread after the hacking.

Here's the masterplan:



I think this is block 9 on the left hand side looking towards blocks 7 and 8 and the river at the end of the boulevard



Looking towards the old lifting tower and the residential apartment in Block 10. Goes to shows the blocks are all about 7-8 storeys high and dwarf the lifting tower which you can see in post 11 of this thread

Carey Jones website comes up trumps for renders time and again...
They have the same masterplan as above, rendered slightly differently;



and a shot of a lit 3D model;



A night time shot of the historical setting;

Wellington Place, Leeds

Client MEPC
Status Ongoing
Construction Cost ₤300 million

The urban design and master planning for Wellington Place was the second major project that their client had entrusted to Carey Jones Architects.

The proposal was to master plan and design a mixed use development incorporating offices, residential units, restaurants, cafes along with a public square over the 14 acres of riverside land. This scheme creates one of the largest new city centre business quarters in Europe, incorporating 250, 000 sq m (2.7 million sq ft) of mixed use development.

Working closely with Leeds City Council and CABE, Carey Jones developed a framework plan which will create a new City Quarter with its own identity, whilst ensuring physical and visual links to the City are created. The scheme both informed and was informed by the emerging Urban Renaissance planning for the City.

The result will be a high density inner city urban development that will be extremely desirable for both tenants and occupiers. It will fulfil Government and Leeds City Council’s requirement to be sustainable and integrate with the surrounding area and community.

Wellington Place will deal with a number of key issues:
· Creation of high density mixed use scheme
· Creation of new quarter of Leeds with a true sense of place
· Effectively knitting the phasing into a logical framework
· Utilise historical elements to inform and enhance the new
· Identify simple and clear highways access whilst creating a fully pedestrianised quarter
· Enhance connectivity within and beyond the site, effectively knitting into the city fabric

source

[di Livio]

I hope there is a re-design for this bland yet important development. It should be as uplifting a place to work in as BrindleyPlace in Birmingham, but a bit sexier.

[Leeds No.1]

I generally think its OK actually- I would agree its a bit bland though but its not bad. Its just all a bit the same with little variety between the buildings- the image I have seen on Wellington Place though looks quite good, with the 16 storey triangular building against other glass buildings and the rail thing in the middle. But it looks ok to me...

[Fred2]

[QUOTE=Leeds No.1]I generally think its OK actually - I would agree its a bit bland though but its not bad. Its just all a bit the same with little variety /QUOTE]


Make your mind up No. 1

[Stig282]

Sometimes No.1 I wonder if you think before you flash your fingers across the keyboard...

[Rob]

I know what he means, the bulk of building blocks are all about the same height which gives a bland impression to the overall scheme.

I wonder how long the whole project will take to complete ? at current rates of about two blocks per decade it'll be approaching the 22nd century before the last one goes up.

[Fred2]

Originally Posted by Rob

I know what he means, the bulk of building blocks are all about the same height which gives a bland impression to the overall scheme.

I wonder how long the whole project will take to complete ? at current rates of about two blocks per decade it'll be approaching the 22nd century before the last one goes up.

I am sure I read somewhere some time ago that 2012 would be completion date.
MFI have some time to go yet with their lease.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by Fred2

I am sure I read somewhere some time ago that 2012 would be completion date.
MFI have some time to go yet with their lease.

the riverside end of the site is vacant and the sheds went last year with Shepherd doing ancilliary groundworks etc. No sign of anything going upwards though. I do wonder why its taking so long to get going, if they hang around much longer the office element will be usurped by HBG who seem to be making positive moves on the Monksbridge Forge site, and who have said they will build speculatively.

All in, the Wellington Place scheme could be excellent, it was designed as a Leeds version of Brindley Place, but I hope the residential elements to be integrated will provide a more dynamic feel to the place especially at weekends.

In 6 years time, Whitehall Road could be completely transformed - will be an amazing site with Lumiere at the bottom the two big schemes either side (TCS and Wellington Place) capped by Globe Road and a possible tower at Monksbridge Forge. Gobsmacking I'd say.